German MPs probing RI's human rights record
German MPs probing RI's human rights record
JAKARTA (JP): Two members of the German parliament are
currently engaged in a fact-finding mission regarding the human
rights situation in Indonesia which will include a visit to East
Timor.
Volker Neumann of the Social Democratic Party and Reiner
Eppelmann of the Christian Democratic Party, who arrived here on
Monday, are scheduled to fly to East Timor later today.
Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas, who met with the two
parliamentarians yesterday, told reporters that the visit was
"routine" and similar to other parliamentary visits.
Emerging from a 90-minute meeting with Alatas at his office,
the German delegation, accompanied by German Ambassador Heinrich
Seeman, declined to disclose the purpose of their visit to
journalists as they were ushered into a waiting car.
However, the Germans' interpreter confirmed that they would be
traveling to East Timor today.
The delegates' rigid silence has been taken as adding credence
to earlier rumors that their request to make the visit had
initially been rejected by Jakarta.
The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation told The Jakarta Post that
a meeting between several non-government organizations and the
German parliamentarians had been scheduled for yesterday evening.
The delegation will be in East Timor until Saturday. They will
proceed to Bali before leaving Indonesia on Sunday.
Earlier yesterday the parliamentarians visited the National
Commission on Human Rights to discuss human rights conditions in
Indonesia and the functioning of the Commission.
The delegation was met by the Commission's Deputy Chair,
Miriam Budiardjo, and the head of the Commission's educational
and supervision section, Charles Himawan.
Himawan said Neumann and Eppelmann had commended the
Commission's ability to be independent in spite of the fact that
it had been established by a Presidential decree.
He said the delegates had expressed amazement at the
Commission's operating procedures which, they said, could not be
found in other countries, even in democratic ones.
Himawan said the Commission had been invited to address the
German parliament on human rights protection in Indonesia and to
elaborate on the workings of the rights commission.
Miriam said that during the meeting a number of human rights
cases in Indonesia had been discussed, including the murder of
labor activist Marsinah and several land disputes.
She said the meeting had not discussed the recent
demonstrations against the Indonesian government in Germany
during President Soeharto's official visit to that country in
April. (imn/mds)